I really really need talking down, I am Ina very dark place worrying about cancer (especially pancreatic and ovarian). For the past month I have had no appetite, nausea, HORRIBLE reflux and burning in stomach and back, and constant gas. I have been to the GI three times, he did a blood test and liver/pancreas function test, as well as an endoscopy and ultrasound which found gastritis and Duodenitis. At the gyno I had ultrasound which only showed a couple tiny follicular cysts. However, none of my medicine is helping and I am so worried about these cancers that I am in tears daily and missing work/commitments! I am 23 and have my whole life ahead of me and I am so worried no one is noticing that something really dire is going on! Please I need some reassurance of this would show up in bloodwork, etc. I have this feeling that I will never feel normal again. I have been taking Prozac for three weeks but it hasn't worked yet. Somebody please help!

Ovarian cancer can be clearly seen on ultrasound. And doctors can distinguish between a cyst And something solid like a tumor. So if you had a pelvic ultrasound the doctor would have seen if there was something g unusual with your ovaries . Any cancer that is causing symptoms is big enough ( ovarian cancer symptoms stem from the presence of the mass itself ) to show on ultrasound. I am assuming you had an ultrasound to check your pancreas and again if you are having symptoms due to a tumor something would have shown on the ultrasound. Gastritis and duodenitis were founds and they can account for all your symptoms.

Hi, I would not worry since you actually had testing done and nothing was found. Pancreatic cancer is so rare. Especially in someone your age. I know that this had happened to me: my anxiety is so high that I actually feel symptoms by just reading what they are. Stress and anxiety are powerful things tha can actually make you feel physical symtoms. I would tell your doctor your concerns so that they can put your mind at ease. Good luck to you, I hope your anxiety subsides. I know it's beyond awful.

I know anxiety can cause physical symptoms but is it rally possible for it to make me this much in pain all the time??!! It is relentless and I feel like something more must be going on? I am really having a hard time with this!

You have peptic duodenitis, that means you need to find a natural way to calm down so your stomach stops producing sooooo much acid and your bowels aren't in overdrive with normal peristaltic movement. When people have high stress, high anxiety... everything in the autonomic nervous system gets speeded up, like gastric acid production. So, I would recommend you start yoga and breathing/stretching exercises. Keep a sleep log and try to go to bed and wake at same time daily, have a good sleep routine. That is for the physical. To help with the mental and with the natural immune/homeostatic process, that you will control with diet. Low-fat diet is for you. A mediterranean diet would be good for you. If you have a lot of gas or belching I think you should do FODMAP diet strict for 2 weeks followed by taking a good probiotic for at least a month. Increase vitamin C vegetables, like broccoli or strawberries. Vitamin D, if you can't get out in the sun that have fortified foods with D or take a D supplement, as that decreases inflammation, and some cod liver oil. Make sure you are getting enough iron and B-12 from foods. So basically, eat a healthy, whole grain, diverse, fresh diet and stay away from boxed/preservative foods and fatty foods. Also, change your mood. Every day look in the mirror and say something good to you about yourself. THat will train your brain to start thinking positive. These natural remedies DO work. Keep us updated if you try my suggestions.

by the way, i work in gastroenterology so I do know what I am talking about. The above advice to you that I just gave to you is not given to patients probably because that is not a GI doctor responsibility, that would be more of a registered dietitian physician advice as well as maybe advice from a self-help type healer. I am dying to give advice like that to patients but I legally can't, that really bothers me. Healthcare industry is just too political anymore these days

Thank you live laugh love! I will try your suggestions, diet part shouldn't be too hard but I know that finding a way to calm down might be. As someone who works in Gastroenterology, would you be concerned that my pain isn't responding to medicine they gave me (dexilant)? That is what has really been freaking me out- and the fact that my heartburn makes me feel like I am having a heart attack half the time doesn't help. I am sooo worried about this it is consuming my entire life! I am just 100 percent sure that something horrible is going on and no one is paying attention!

Does anyone have GERD? Recently after I eat or drink anything it isn't just burping but almost as if I am going to vomit but it never makes it that far. This is all just getting worse even with medicine

The reason why you are not responding to dexilant is simple... You don't have reflux so there is nothing to respond to. So that even further proves that your pain is likely musculoskeletal as in tense muscles, inflammation of cartilage or tendons, stuff basically with no pathological cause. Try heat on your chest, back, or back of neck for 20 minutes 3 times per day :)

Try that FODMAP diet, too. Gas happens from bacteria, normal flora, releasing gases such as hydrogen or methane. Bacteria eat sugar and simple carbs... So the goal is to limit simple carbs and choose complex sugars/carbs and you starve the flora that way so they can't releases gases but meanwhile provide adequate nutrition to the host (you).

Hi, I am going through the same thing (worry about pancreatic or other cancer) right now, but I have my first doc appointment in an hour. I just posted my story on this forum so I won't repeat it here. But, I did want to respond to some of your questions. I would recommend the Anti-inflammatory Diet to ANYBODY. It can be found on Dr. Andrew Weil's homepage. (His health advice actually gets me through periods of diverticulitis pain that arise after I fail to be diligent in my diet and maintenance. After antibiotics did NOTHING for my severe diverticulitis pain, which was the ONLY thing my doctor recommended, I tried his recommendations, and the episode cleared up completely. One of them was the Anti-inflammatory diet, which is actually recommended for everyone and believed to be linked to cancer prevention and long health.) You may also poke around his website for GERD specifically. My infant son had severe GERD, again not successfully helped by his pediatrician with medication and no other lifestyle advice, and only went away after visits to a non-manipulating chiropractor and lifestyle changes (frequent small feedings, no lying down for at least thirty minutes after eating/drinking, sleeping harnessed on a special steeply slanted bed for GERD, etc.). It actually got significantly better after the first chiro visit, coupled with the lifestyle changes, I think he only reguritated once or twice after beginning the treatment/routine. With a newborn these lifestyle changes were not easy as I had to feed him 24/7 AND hold him completely upright for 30 minutes afterwards throughout the night. Needless to say, I was at my wits end for a while there coping with the lifestyle changes until he eventually grew out of it. I should point out that this chiropractor does not do the pop and snap type of adjustments, it's more gentle manipulating, and she had treated others with GERD before. Also, he only drank breast milk at the time, of course, but in my research I did discover that there are dietary changes recommended for adults with the problem (also found on Dr. Weil's website), which include eliminating dairy. Anyway, for now, I'd do a search for GERD on his website and incorporate those changes, and see how that goes. Why you developed GERD in the first place is a mystery, and I can see why you would be anxious. Sometimes there aren't really any good answers, and jumping to the Big C conclusion can be a part of our anxiety problem. We know our bodies, and can be very hypersensitive to the various states it goes through. For you, you have taken some tests that came back negative which is great!!! I hope to do that later today. I did discover an interview with an expert on Pancreatic CA at UCSF today that stated she has found that her patients tend to report that before they got any undeniable symptoms (jaundice, vomiting blood, severe pain, etc.) they had at least several months of vague or dull abdominal pain that was thought to be indigestion or other benign stomach issue, and ignored the seriousness of it. She said that some patients (not all) also had weight loss that they ignored. Some PC patients never have weight loss until the end. She went onto say that she gives a very specific blood marker test for that, and also does a CT scan. She stated that UCSF's survival rate is twice the national average and believes it is partially due to the early detection. So, of course, this kind of information just exacerbates anxiety for people like us when we get pain. But, I say, if the right tests ARE done, and negative, we do need to calm down, otherwise we WILL make ourselves sick. Keep us posted.

Iva- thanks for your diet suggestions but this information about pancreatic cancer really did exacerbate my anxiety re my reflux and pain. I am now really in so much fear, can't think about anything else, and just waiting for the severe symptoms to begin. I really need help, went to therapy today didn't do anything. If i have been to the doctor a few times, and he isn't worried, do you think it is okay since I am not IGNORING the symptoms, I have been to a doctor multiple times? Something would show up somewhere right? I do not think he did a specific tumor marker test, but I will call and ask him tomorrow. Really didn't help to say that the severe symptoms didn't start until the end. I am at my wits end over this!